The Short Constitution Part 33

16 A pure democracy would be that form of government in which all people of the age of twenty-one years could actually take part in making the laws and administering the government. A country would need be very small indeed, if _all_ the people above twenty-one years of age could a.s.semble in any one place and organize and conduct a meeting in which _all_ could take part in law-making. No building would be large enough to accommodate all the people and even if all the people a.s.sembled out of doors, the number would be so large that those standing or sitting near the outer edge of the a.s.sembly would be so far from the speaker that they could not hear what he said when he spoke to them. A pure democracy is a physical impossibility. The nearest form of government to a pure democracy is a representative democracy, or one in which groups of people choose one or more persons to represent them. Then these representatives make laws and carry on the government in the name of all the people whom they represent. Therefore a democracy is that form of government in which all people have equal opportunities, and in which all may take part in the government through their chosen representatives.

"No matter how widely democracy may be extended, if it is not accompanied by a certain equality of opportunity among the members of the political society, it is not democracy."-_Cyclopedia of American Government_, Vol. I, p. 561.

"Democracy is that form of government in which the people rule. The basis of democracy is equality, as that of the aristocracy is privilege."-Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_, Vol. I, p. 540.

"The beginnings of democracy were best observed in the towns.h.i.+ps of New England, where the Puritans from England settled and organized towns which were centers of democracy."-Peter Roberts.

In an absolute monarchy, the ruler is supreme; in a limited monarchy, the parliament or congress sets a limit to the powers of the ruler; in a democracy, the people rule.

"It is almost impossible that all the people will exactly agree on any proposition, either political or social. Therefore the rule of government in a democracy is, that all the people shall accept and obey those laws and regulations that are pleasing to the majority."

"The basis of our political system is the right of the _people_ to make or alter their const.i.tution of government."-George Was.h.i.+ngton.

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other man's consent."-Abraham Lincoln.

"This country, with all its inst.i.tutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it."-Abraham Lincoln.

"I believe that the American people accept, as one just definition of democracy, Napoleon's phrase, 'Every career is open to talent'."-Charles William Eliot.

Lincoln defined a democracy as "A government of the people, by the people, and for the people".

17 "A Republic may be defined as a state in which the sovereign power rests in the people as a whole but is exercised by representatives chosen by a popular vote."-_Cyclopedia of American Government_, Vol.

III, p. 188.

"A Republic, in the modern sense of the term, is a government which derives all its powers directly, or indirectly, from the great body of the people, i. e. the majority-and is administered by persons holding their offices for a limited period."-_Cyclopedia of American Government_, Vol. III, p. 188.

"Republican government is a government of the people; a government by representatives chosen by the people."-Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_.

The Const.i.tution of the United States in Art. IV, Sec. 4 guarantees to every State a republican form of government, but it does not define what is republican government. It is generally a.s.sumed that if for any reason the representative government of a State should be destroyed or temporarily set aside, it would be the duty of the Federal government, acting through the President as chief executive, to use whatever force was necessary (including the army and navy) to overcome such agency and to restore to the people of that State its former representative government.

"It is left to Congress to decide what const.i.tutes a republican form of government, and Congress also has the right to say which government in a state is the legal government. This necessarily follows because before Congress can decide whether the government is Republican it must decide which government is in force."-_Luther vs.

Borden, 7 Howard 1._

"It is Congress and not the President who decides what is Republican government in a state."-_Martin vs. Mott, 12 Wheaton 19._

18 "It may well be contended that a republican form of government necessarily involves the exercise of powers of government by representative officers and bodies, and the distribution of powers of government among distinct and independent departments."-McClain's _Const.i.tutional Law_, p. 10.

_ 19 Initiative_ means the right of the people to initiate or commence the process of lawmaking. It is done by circulating a pet.i.tion asking that a certain provision be enacted into law. If the pet.i.tion receives the signatures of a certain percentage of qualified voters, the legislature is required to enact the provision into law, or submit it to the voters to determine whether it shall become law.

_Referendum_ means that the qualified voters through the process of balloting may determine whether a measure proposed either through the action of the legislature, or through the initiative, shall become law.

_Recall_ is the method by which the qualified voters may remove an undesirable officer from office before the expiration of his term.

It is done through a pet.i.tion requiring a certain percentage of signers from among the qualified voters. If the pet.i.tion is sufficient an election is called at which time the officer may appear for continuation in office and others may appear as candidates for that office. The one receiving the largest vote is duly chosen.

20 Children who attend the public school are subject to the law as well as are grown people who work in factories or on farms. The teacher must have rules and regulations governing the conduct of pupils in school. These are laws which the children must obey. If a pupil insists on disturbing other pupils or talking out loud-such may be a violation of the rules governing a good school and the pupil may be punished for such violation.

21 Law has been defined as: "The aggregate of those laws and principles of conduct which the governing power in a community recognizes as the rules and principles which it will enforce or sanction, and according to which it will regulate, limit, or protect the conduct of its members."-Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_, Vol. II, p. 144.

"Law consists of the rules and methods by which society compels or restrains the actions of its members."

In the legal sense-A law is a rule which the courts will enforce.

The courts will not enforce all rules, and therefore there are many rules which are not law in the legal sense.

"Law _might_ be defined as the aggregate of those rules and principles promulgated by legislative authority or established by local custom, and our laws are the resultant derived from a combination of the divine or moral laws, the laws of nature and human experience, as such resultant has been evolved by human intellect, influenced by the virtue of the ages."-_Words and Phrases_, p. 33.

"Law has her seat in the bosom of G.o.d; her voice in the harmony of the world."-Hooker.

"Laws are the very bulwark of liberty. They define every man's rights, and stand between and defend individual liberties of all."-J. G. Holland.

"Laws exist in vain for those who do not have the courage and the means to defend them."-Thomas B. Macauley.

"Laws, written, if not on stone tablets, yet on the azure of infinitude, in the inner heart of G.o.d's creation, certain as life, certain as death, are they, and thou shalt not disobey them."-Thomas Carlyle.

"A rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state."-Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_.

22 Laws and rules are statements of what has been agreed upon as proper conduct among persons who a.s.sociate together. A person living on a lonely island in the ocean with no other person near would not need law. But as soon as two persons share the island and its fruits and animals and plants, then certain rules need be set up for the protection of each against the other. Where people are most closely a.s.sociated, we need the greatest number of rules or laws. People living in large cities must more often need law than do those living in rural districts.

23 A person may drive an automobile at twenty miles per hour on a country road with perfect safety, but twenty miles per hour in a crowded city would be positively dangerous to people crossing the streets. Therefore the speed limit of five or perhaps ten miles per hour in cities.

24 People have as much right to walk on the sidewalks of the town or city as do other people to drive teams and wagons or automobiles on the streets. Each must obey the traffic laws. At crossings their rights of pa.s.sage conflict, therefore each must be on the look-out when crossing the street. The law provides street crossings, therefore footmen must not "cut the crossings" but go the directed way.

25 When election time comes each year, or every two years, those who are qualified to vote ought by all means give careful consideration to the candidates for office and to the issues that const.i.tute the campaign. It requires good men to make good laws. Good men are only chosen to office when good people interest themselves in the candidates and attend the elections and cast intelligent votes. Good laws are properly enforced only when good men are chosen to office.

26 "A child, an apprentice, a pupil, a mariner, and a soldier owe respectively obedience to the lawful commands of the parent, the master, the teacher, the captain of the s.h.i.+p, and the military officer having command: and in case of disobedience submission may be enforced by correction."-Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_, Vol. II, p.

531.

"To obey is better than sacrifice."

"Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."

"Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing G.o.d."

"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also must be obedient."-Quotations from _The Bible_.

"The capacity of the people for self government, and their willingness, ... to submit to all needful restraints, and exactions of munic.i.p.al law, have been favorably exemplified in the history of the American States."-Martin Van Buren.

"Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us to the end dare do our duty as we understand it."-Abraham Lincoln.

"Surely I do not misinterpret the spirit of the occasion when I a.s.sume that the whole body of the people convenant with me today to support and defend the Const.i.tution and ... to yield a willing obedience to all the laws, and each to every other citizen his equal civil and political liberty."-Benj. Harrison.

"Patriotism calls for the faithful performance of all the duties of citizens.h.i.+p in small matters as well as great, at home as well as on tented fields."-William J. Bryan.

27 We must see ourselves as we are, moving in our daily life, guarded and safeguarded in every act by law. Every act in life is lawful or unlawful; that is, we are protected by the law in our every act, or we are condemned or punished. Here are two children on their way to school, one walking upon the sidewalk, exercising a lawful right; one riding his bicycle upon the sidewalk, performing an unlawful act. The one is an example of a careful law-abiding citizen, the other an example of a law-violator.

28 Const.i.tution of the United States, Art. I, Sec. 8, Cl. 5.

29 Created by an Act of Congress of March 3rd, 1901. It is a bureau of the Department of Commerce, and is charged with comparing the standards used in scientific investigations, commerce, and educational inst.i.tutions with standards adopted and recognized by the government.